Refreshment

Writing, just like any other act of creativity, involves pouring out. Energy, emotion, ideas...you're putting something into your work. I hope. If you put nothing into your writing, you will get nothing out of your writing. And believe me, it also leads to a very bad finished product.

So it's great when you self-fuel your writing. However, as we all know, to continue pouring water from a cup you have to refill the cup. Neither a cup nor you are infinite energy sources.

What's more, there's lots more demanding our energy and emotion than just writing. That's why there will come a point when we just need to refill.

I do a lot that demands emotion, creativity, energy, and ideas. (Like, life for example). I'm guessing, if you have a pulse and you are reading this, that you have lots of fuel-demanding things as well. And perhaps you know what I mean when I say that running on empty will just hurt your engine.

So, how do we find refreshment?

Writers, delicate and unique creatures as we are, find it differently than other folks do. Here are just a few options.

1. Read. I think this refreshment idea will really weed out the writers from the non-writers. Some people are just downright amazed that anybody could find books...well, refreshing! And yet they are. I suggest reading books that aren't necessarily mind-stretching or challenging but definitely aren't brainless cotton candy. Remember which books have inspired you in the past, and then read them again. For me, that's Inkheart by Cornelia Funke, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, and any of the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.

2. Start up an old hobby. I find that going back to something I haven't done in a while, like knitting, is relaxing. Unless you're a person who really enjoys learning new stuff, I wouldn't take up a hobby completely foreign to you. For me, knitting is something I can do brainlessly and easily. Besides, I'm a very tactile learner.

3. Read through some of your old writing. It is incredibly refreshing to read things you wrote a couple years back and see how much your talent has grown! Also, I find many times I'll recycle old ideas from books that I'm not planning on continuing anymore.

4. Take a break. I like to, as much as possible, have my Saturdays completely free. This might mean working really hard on the week-days, but it's definitely worth it when I have no worries and catch-up work on the weekend. Then you can devote one day to doing something fun and relaxing. This really helps when you feel burned out.

5. Think. Taking a step back from your various writing projects is really helpful to me, especially when I feel confused or discouraged about where my book is going. You can write skits and spoofs for your characters, or read through earlier parts of the book, or draw scenery from the book. I really like planning my characters' outfits. =) Daydreaming about your book is really helpful too. Just let your imagination wander in the constraints of your own made-up world.

Yours without wax,

Izori